OLYMPIA, WA – A coalition supporting Washington state’s child care industry is sounding the alarm over proposed funding cuts in the governor’s new budget.

The group of 14 organizations said the reductions would dismantle support systems and push an already strained sector toward collapse. Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed budget would cut child care access for 14,000 low-income families by capping the Working Connections subsidy.

Genevieve Stokes, director of government relations for the coalition Child Care Aware of Washington, said the cuts would also reduce the rate providers get for each child through the program.

“That’s a significant cut and is really going to force a lot of providers to stop serving children on subsidy, or jack up the prices for their private-pay parents who already are struggling to afford child care,” Stokes projected.

The proposed budget cuts professional development funding for child care providers by 50%, which Stokes noted would disproportionately affect women, who dominate the field, hindering career advancement and lowering the quality of care.

Stokes explained even without added cuts, the state economy loses $6 billion a year because the lack of child care forces parents to miss work, not take full-time positions or refuse promotions. She emphasized whether someone has children in care or not, everyone depends on it.

“Child care is how your nurses get to their jobs. It’s how construction workers get to their building sites. It’s how your farmworkers are able to get onto the fields,” Stokes outlined.

Stokes stressed cutting state funding would hit an industry already strained by federal cuts to Medicaid and other public service programs, as well as federal immigration policies. She noted more than a quarter of early childhood educators are immigrants and about 40% rely on some form of public assistance.

She added she supports state lawmakers who are looking to progressive revenue streams to generate more wealth for the state.